my experience is if you are in gusty area all sail size with 3+ camabers AO is an advantage. all the rest flat water sails above 6,5/7,0 with AO have big advantage. in constant wind above 8,0 sqm the AO is very helpful.

AO is a very good tool to get into plan in 2-3 knots lower wind and extend the top end of the sail with even 3-5 knots. its not fun anymore with a totally flat sail, but you can survive when the wind picks up...

cheers,
gyurmo

19th March 2012 06:28 PM

Jean-Marc

I use an AO on all of my 6.6-11.0 m2 racing sails with XL slalom and L speed boards. When going upwind (= better upwind angle) or when wind is getting stronger, tighten the AO to flatten the sail and dissipate the excess of sail power. When going downwind or when wind is getting lighter, loosen the AO to tune the sail with a deeper draft and get more sail power.
With camless sails and especially in waves, I don't use an on-the-fly adujustable outhaul because for obvious safety reasons, it can get loose - or worst scenario, completely lost- at the sail's or boom's clew.

Cheers !

JM

19th March 2012 02:57 PM

Ken

While the 147 isn't a formula board, it will do extremely well up and down wind, and with the adjustable outhaul, you gain significant control on the upwind legs (flat sail) and downwind (bagged sail). The difference being about about 10 cm of adjustment at the clew.

The AO will simply increase the sail range and keep the the center of force in your sail more balanced. In other words, your harness line balance point can be maintained between sailing in 8 knots and 18 knots of wind by adjusting the outhaul.

If you do much upwind/downwind sailing, think about adjustable harness lines too. Long for downwind and short for upwind.

18th March 2012 09:06 PM

Phyxius

Google search: '8:1 adjustable outhaul' i pretty much followed the guide and it works really well. The only difference is instead of a rope connection from sail clew eyelet to the pulley block i used a small long D-shackle.

For my slalom sails i use 1 boom for about 3 sails and its quite easy to adjust the length of the pulley system for different sail sizes by adding a clamcleat junior (CL203) to one end and adjusting as necessary.
I would post pics but Im not allowed...

18th March 2012 07:27 PM

COACHG

ADVANTAGE
If much of your sailing is pinching upwind & sailing deep off the wind than an AO is huge. The AO allows you to trim your sail to the apparent wind when sailing up & down wind. On beam reaches an AO can help you trim the sail in changing/gusty winds.

DISADVANTAGE
If you use more than one sail on your boom you have added hassle to rigging. Depending on placement it can get in the way during jibing. Adjusting it on the move takes practice.

The choice is yours.

Coachg

18th March 2012 01:42 PM

rdrsurf

Adjustable Outhaul

Hi,

for my combo US147 and NP H2 9.2 I am thinking of adding an adjustable outhaul to my NP X9. What would be the benefits and what is the adjustment strategy to get the best out of it.